Editorial Reviews

Award winning B3 organist Atsuko Hashimoto from Osaka Japan leads a trio featuring acclaimed guitarist Graham Dechter and world class drummer Jeff Hamilton. The group swings their way through classic tunes like 'Cherry', 'Soul Station' and 'So In Love' among others, all uniquely arranged and played. Ms. Hashimoto has a sound reminiscent of early greats of the jazz organ and chops very few have attained. She is known for her fast glissando runs and imaginative soloing.

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Atsuko Hashimoto is a Hammond B3 organ specialist who would be much better known in the U.S. were she not based in her native Osaka, Japan. Along with her husband Yutaka--a skilled and exciting jazz guitarist--Atsuko is one of Osaka's best kept jazz secrets. Fortunately for those who don't reside in the Kansai region of Japan (as I do), drummer Jeff Hamilton "discovered" Atsuko some years ago while on tour in Japan with the Oscar Peterson Trio. This discovery came about as the now-defunct club the Hashimotos played at (known as the Don Shop) was located just across the street from the old Osaka Blue Note in downtown Osaka. Many of the well-known musicians who played the Blue Note, hearing word of the scintillating Hashimoto jams, made the short journey across the boulevard to hear for themselves. One of them was Jeff Hamilton, who, smitten with Atsuko's skill and obvious joy in music-making, vowed that he would one day record with her. Fast-forward a decade or so, and behold the CD at hand, the third recorded collaboration between Hamilton and Hashimoto, and the finest example of their combined artistry so far.

The key to the success of this CD stems in part from the combination of players. The trio was initially assembled for a jazz festival in Edmonds WA in March of 2010. Having previously played together on numerous occasions, Atsuko and Jeff felt quite comfortable with each other. And despite his youth (23 at the time of the festival), guitar phenom Graham Dechter was already a veteran who had worked with Jeff from age 19 as guitarist with the great west coast ensemble, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra.Read more ›